Lene is an orphaned seamstress; Botho is a nobleman and an officer in one of the Prussian army's most glittering regiments. But whatever their differences of class and education, their hearts are equal to each other. Over the course of a summer in 1870s Berlin, they enjoy a clear-eyed, tender love affair, in spite of the judgements and warnings of those around them. The end comes all too soon, and Botho marries a wealthy cousin. When, years later, Lene too has an opportunity to marry, her ex-lover must choose between holding on to regret or letting go of the past - along with the possibility...

As war between Prussia and Denmark brews over the territory of Schleswig-Holstein, a German nobleman is called to serve as a gentleman-in-waiting at the Danish court. Count Holk's life so far has been happy and simple - he married for love, and his pious wife and canny brother have managed his estate so well that he's even been able to carry out his dream, inspired by a romantic ballad, of building a castle by the sea. But the expense of his architectural folly, the mounting political tensions in the air, and his rustic innocence all conspire to create a tragedy. Seduced by the worldly ways...